Léger Jean-François
2018 Research grant
Project status: closed
Better understanding of the plasticity of the brain involved in hearing.
Listening to, and understanding, our sound environment is a process that requires training, and that depends on our past experience. It calls on the brain’s plasticity, or its capacity to remodel its connections depending on its environment and needs. The mechanisms and consequences of this cerebral plasticity are far from fully understood. The project of Doctors Léger and Monasson aims to enhance our understanding of the complex processes underlying this auditory plasticity.
2015 Research grant
Project status: closed
Study of the mechanisms used by the brain to learn sounds.
How does our brain learn to associate sounds with meanings? Doctors Léger and Shamma plan to study the neural mechanisms involved in learning in mice. To do this, they will evaluate the changes in neuron network connections in the part of the brain that processes auditory information. Using state-of-the-art microscopes, they will visualize and monitor the activity of hundreds of neurons while the animals learn.
The aim is to map the networks that enable the auditory brain to learn and associate sounds with rewards, tasks or meanings.
This research will enable the development of therapies for hearing loss, attention deficits, language learning difficulties and communication disorders.
Doctor Jean-François Léger
Investigator
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
Related scientific publication(s):
- Walther Akemann, Sébastien Wolf , Vincent Villette , Benjamin Mathieu , Astou Tangara , Jozsua Fodor , Cathie Ventalon, Jean-François Léger, Stéphane Dieudonné, Laurent Bourdieu. Fast optical recording of neuronal activity by three-dimensional custom-access serial holography. Nat Methods. 2022 Jan;19(1):100-110.doi: 10.1038/s41592-021-01329-7. Epub 2021 Dec 23.